Motorsport: Former Formula 1 ace Mark Webber thrilled for mate Brendon Hartley

Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley (pictured with Sebastian Vettel) still keep in touch. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealander Brendon Hartley's tenacity to get into Formula One has paid of handsomely and the 27-year-old is now locked in at Scuderia Toro Rosso until the end of the season.

Former Red Bull Racing F1 driver Mark Webber is someone else who got a seat at the top table of motorsport through hard graft and sheer force of will, with a healthy dose of talent of course. In fact, his autobiography was titled Aussie Grit.

Webber is also a former teammate of Hartley's from his days racing in the World Endurance Championship with the Porsche LMP1 programme. Not only did they race together for three seasons, they won a world title in 2015 with German Timo Bernhard and they became friends off the track.

"It's an unbelievable opportunity for him [Hartley] that's for sure," Webber said. "It's any racing driver's dream to race in F1.

"The biggest quality that everyone has seen is that he just hung in there. You know he was on the scrap heap and was on the bones of his arse after being dropped by Red Bull.

"He took that on the chin and said he wasn't ready, which he wasn't."

Hartley raced anything and everything after being let go from the Red Bull Junior Team including Minis, historic F1 cars, endurance prototypes and kept pushing on in pretty much the good old Kiwi battler fashion.

"After racing anything he could get his hands on before the Porsche factory picked him up. He's had two incredible phone calls so far; one from Porsche and one from Toro Rosso.

"He deserves a crack, mate. Yes, it's a bit late, but it's always the way for us guys from that part of the world.

"We can't get there in the conventional way because we don't have the firepower and the funding," said Webber.

Hartley did, however, do two years on the Mercedes F1 simulator but still had a pretty low profile.

Despite that, he kept at it and let people know he was available.

"He could easily have gone back home and got a V8 Supercars drive, which had been offered, and other options. It doesn't matter which way you skin a cat, it is easier to go back home and race.

"But he didn't and kept trying," said Webber.

Hartley had been out of single-seaters for nigh on three years. Racing an LMP1 car is no mean feat, especially with all the electronics that have to be managed, but it's not a Formula One car.

For a start, the tyres and how to manage them is completely different, and getting used to a standing start again is a bugger in itself, let alone the plethora of other new gizmos to get up to speed with.

"The hardest thing for Brendon was the short notice. There were so many new things for him and all the things - like how the car behaves - that he should not have to be worried about, he had to comprehend and deal with.

"He'd never sat in the car before and then there was all the media and other stuff. There's a bit of pressure but we all know he doesn't have the car to get great results.

"All the big boys started in cars that weren't the best and got lapped in the beginning," said Webber.

The UK-based Aussie has been on hand for advice and is happy to pass on whatever information Hartley was after to help the transition to Formula One.

"We actually see each other quite a bit and spent a lot of time together before his first race. I'm always on the end of the phone if he wants to talk, so that's all good," he said.

Hartley's next race is at the Brazilian Grand Prix (November 10-12), followed by the season-ender at Abu Dhabi (November 24-26).

Lewis Hamilton may have been crowned world champion over the weekend but all Kiwi eyes will be riveted to Hartley's continuing big adventure.